Happy New Year! The new year brings an opportunity to start fresh, perhaps with personal New Year’s resolutions to get more exercise, eat more healthy food and even to have more fun, travel more often, and listen with a more tolerant ear to the relative whose complaints drive you crazy. I don’t usually make resolutions, but this year I am resolving to take a few minutes more often to respond to the AAUW Action emails asking for support for important issues affecting women and girls.

I think sometimes we all feel overwhelmed when we see all the horrible stuff that’s going on in the world, and we wonder what one person can possibly do to make a difference. I was inspired by our November WOW speaker, Karen Duncanwood, who did such a brave thing when she stepped up to being a Freedom Rider in Mississippi 50 years ago.

Probably none of us is able to take that big a step today, but there are always little things to do to help our community and the world and to be an example to others. It means a lot on our small stage when our branch can help a woman complete her education, or inspire a girl to consider a scientific career, or encourage a teenager to develop an idea about an important issue into an effective speech. Thanks for your help in making our projects bear fruit. Let’s see what else we can do this year on an individual and group basis to make a difference, no matter how small!

Cherril Peabody, AAUW Sacramento President for 2014-15